Point and Shoot

In recent memory, aimless wanderers sought enlightenment and adventure without obnoxiously posting about it on social media. At most, they took along a camera with actual film in it to develop later. The global tourists penned introspective truths in a journal rather than in 140 character tweets or status updates. Che Guevara’s image would not adorn so many T-shirts if he displayed his motorcycle diaries on Instagram. Matthew VanDyke, on a self-proclaimed crash course in manhood, spends more time setting up shots of him riding a motorcycle in backwater locales than actually soaking in culture, picking up a new language, or learning much of anything at all. Matthew VanDyke is famous for one reason. He spent almost six months in solitary confinement in a Libyan prison. No torture, no hours long interrogations, just him in his cell, and three trips a day to the latrine. He was even well fed. Was VanDyke a prisoner of war? Nope. He was an illegal alien on Libyan territory who decided to pick up a rifle. In American legal parlance, he was an enemy combatant.

With a Maser’s Degree from Georgetown under his belt and no intention of filling out job applications, VanDyke bought himself a motorcycle and jetted over to North Africa and the Middle East to find himself. What he found was a bunch of spots to film himself looking at those spots. It is not just the fact that VanDyke rode across 10 countries or so including Iran and Afghanistan; he had to film himself doing it. Would it still count if he didn’t? His recordings remind me of those social media busybodies who post every meal they consume in a foreign country and comment on how crazy everything is with a minimum of three exclamation points. Nobody just travels anymore to learn something; they are required to document it to death.

Upon his return, VanDyke hooked up with Oscar nominated documentary director Matthew Curry (2011’s If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front). Curry splices VanDyke’s footage in with a long interview and some hand drawn animation of VanDyke in the Libyan prison to create Point and Shoot. Curry also interviews VanDyke’s anxious girlfriend who comes off far more calm now than she probably was during Matthew’s escapades.

VanDyke did not stumble into the Libyan civil war. He was already home in Baltimore when the revolution kicked off. He deliberately snuck into the country, joined up with some Libyan friends he made on his earlier voyages, put on some hand me down camouflage, and morphed in a rifle-toting, slogan-spouting revolutionary. Matthew does not thoroughly answer Curry’s questions on why he ran away to war. Perhaps he still doesn’t know why. Sure, it was a good cause, but there are good causes anywhere on the globe, not just in Benghazi and the road to Tripoli.

VanDyke’s footage shows the story of a fool more than a brave man of conscience. Hanging out on the outskirts of battle does not earn VanDyke his manhood merit badge. The footage of him hoisting a large caliber machine gun over his head and telling his compatriots he is here as a fighter and not as a journalist smacks of braggadocio and staged scenes. VanDyke’s footage of the fighting is always from a distance showcasing men jumping out into the middle of the street, letting loose a hundred rounds from their assault rifles without aiming at anything, and jumping back to cover. I almost recommend folks watch Point and Shoot as an example of what not to do when you have the itch to get out there and see the world. I assume the truly altruistic souls who find their just causes do not spend the entire time filming themselves participating in them. They actually take the time to get their hands dirty and get things done. Curry found an intriguing subject not due to the guy’s heroic actions, but for his sheer audacity to stumble his way out of dangerous situation after situation.